This day in history: American businessman and former White House aide John P. Wheeler III died under mysterious circumstances on December 30, 2010.
Wheeler was seen on security camera on December 28, 2010, exiting an Amtrak train, and later, on the afternoon of December 30, 2010 in Wilmington, Delaware. On December 31, his body was seen by a landfill worker as it fell onto a trash heap in the Cherry Island Landfill. Police ruled his death a homicide and claimed that "all the stops made Friday (December 31) by the garbage truck before it arrived at the landfill involved large commercial disposal bins in Newark (Delaware), several miles from Wheeler's home."
Wheeler's neighbor of seven months, Ron Roark, said that he had met Wheeler only once and rarely saw him. Roark claimed that, in the days prior to Wheeler's death, he (Roark) and his family heard, from outside the Wheeler residence, a loud television within the home that was constantly on, though no one appeared to be home.
According to The Washington Post, Wheeler was sighted on December 29 at the New Castle County courthouse parking garage, disoriented and wearing only one shoe, as the other was ripped. While he attempted to gain access to the parking garage on foot, Wheeler claimed that he wanted to warm up before paying a parking fee. (Police later determined that his car was actually in a different parking garage at the train station.) Wheeler explained to the parking garage attendant that his briefcase had been stolen and assured her he was not intoxicated. It is also claimed that, on December 29, Wheeler asked a pharmacist in New Castle for a ride to Wilmington and "looked upset." The pharmacist offered to call a cab for Wheeler, at which point Wheeler left the store.
On December 30, Wheeler was sighted wandering about various office buildings, including Mitre and DuPont locations, where he refused offers of assistance from several individuals. On January 28, 2011, the Delaware state medical examiner's office reported Wheeler's cause of death as assault and "blunt force trauma" without elaboration.
December 30 is also the day of the unsolved Setagaya family murder. The Setagaya family murder refers to the unsolved murders of the Miyazawa family in Setagaya ward of Tokyo, Japan, on 30 December 2000.
Mikio Miyazawa, Yasuko Miyazawa, Niina Miyazawa and Rei Miyazawa were murdered during a home invasion at night by an unknown assailant who then remained in the Miyazawas' house for several hours before disappearing. Japanese police launched a massive investigation that uncovered the killer's DNA and many specific clues about their identity, but the perpetrator has never been identified.
The media frenzy and long investigation of the Setagaya murders became a cause célèbre to abolish statute of limitations in Japan, which was removed in 2010. The investigation into the murders is among the largest in Japanese history, involving over 246,044 investigators who have collected over 12,545 pieces of evidence.
Apparently, the murderer remained inside the house for 2 to 10 hours, using the family computer, drinking 4 bottles of barley tea, melon, and 4 ice creams from their refrigerator, using their toilet without flushing, treating his injuries using first aid kits and other sanitary products, and taking a nap on a sofa in the second floor living room. Drawers and papers were ransacked (with some being dumped in the bath and toilet) and some money was taken (although more was left behind). Surprisingly, the killer left 10 items behind on the family sofa (knife, muffler, hip bag, sweater, jacket, hat, gloves, shoes, and two handkerchiefs.).
Oddly, trace amounts of sand were also found inside the hip bag that the killer left at the scene, which after analysis was determined to come from the Nevada desert, more exactly the area of Edwards Air Force Base in California.
December 30 also marks the strange death of Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin was a man who insinuated himself inside the Russian royal family, the Romanovs, and in time was able to gain some power and influence, which many did not like. While seen by some Russians as a mystic, visionary, and prophet, others viewed him as a charlatan. At first they tried to poison him. It is said that Rasputin was fed poisoned cakes and wines and that Rasputin gorged down enough cyanide to kill an elephant. But no amount of poison would hurt him. Instead, Rasputin kept asking for more.
When that didn't work they shot him in the heart. When his killers went to dispose of his body, “With a sudden violent effort Rasputin leapt to his feet, foaming at the mouth.” They then took more shots. That didn't work, until someone shot him in the head. However, one of the conspirators saw Rasputin move, even after the shot to the skull. So they then wrapped his body in linen and threw him over the bridge into the water. He was also found mutilated.
Or so the legend goes.
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